Monday, March 5, 2018

Showdown in the Shadow of Koldinghus

This week was honestly fantastic, like normal, but also especially. It was just great!

Last Monday, we went as a district to Koldinghus! It was pretty fun! It's basically just an old castle that was burned. However, it's not actually that significant... It was really fun though! It's quite pretty. We took some fun pictures and got some awesome pictures in some medieval clothing. (Sadly, I don't have access to that as of now...) It was fun! We also went knocking that evening and talked to a man named Finn! We had initially started the conversation with the Book of Mormon, but then he let us inside and we taught the entire Restoration! He seemed a little shy, but was very interested! He's also a visual designer. It was really cool! We have another appointment set with him this weekend.

On Tuesday, we had splits! It was with the Zone Leaders, so we didn't see anything too different. I was with Ældste Preece! It was pretty fun! We knocked into a lady who had heard of the Book of Mormon and was happy to "loan" one to read for a week! It also snowed like crazy, so we got to bike up a crazy hill in the snow! It was quite exciting, especially for a man who is recovering from pneumonia. We found a couple other potential investigators.

Wednesday then decided to roll around again. It was an interesting day, but not a ton happened. We went knocking again. We got let into a couple kind of weird people's houses... It's always a little awkward when people don't speak Danish or English and still invite you inside. We talked to a guy from Eritrea (country in Eastern Africa), named Tesfay, in broken English. But he was way nice and actually wanted us to come back. Then an old lady let us in but couldn't really hold a conversation... So, we basically just prayed, talked at her, prayed again, then left.

Thursday was probably the most frustrating day, ever...  We had a good morning of contacting. Then we biked out to Knud Hansens Vej to do some knocking and stop by's before a lesson. We stopped by Tristan (he was taught a couple times before I got to Kolding). He began turning the doorknob and then looked through the peephole. Then he quickly locked the door and walked away (quite loudly). It was way weird! And then right after, we stopped by Nille who we haven't had any contact with. She answered the door and didn't recognize us. But after we explained who we were, she said that she saw the card we'd left the time we stopped by (a couple weeks ago) and thought it was creepy so she didn't want to meet. It was so sad! That was rough. Then we had a lesson with Tirtsa. We were able to have Allan (our Ward Mission Leader) come along for it. Tirtsa basically spent the hour avoiding our few questions and ranting to Allan about how we're two brainwashed young men. It was super lame. She had quite a few weird theories, but also some that were almost spot on. But when we tried to identify them, she would disagree with us. Ældste Schaffer and I were just way confused about what she actually believes in at this point. She isn't open to learning and basically just lets the lesson bounce off of her. That was pretty rough. Luckily, right after we knocked into a family that was surprisingly excited that we were American Mormons. But they were eating dinner, so we're going back later. Also, on Thursday we were contacting on the gågade in the evening. Ældste Schaffer and I turned a corner to see the Zone Leaders walking down from the other side of the street. So ensued a snowball fight! It was hilarious! I'm sure the girl working in one of the salons was pretty confused though. ;)

Friday was about as different as it could be. We had district meeting which was about emotional health. The Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders were in charge. We talked about how to stay healthy and motivated. It was actually pretty great! Then Christian came and we worked on some lyrics for a while. I basically wrote half a verse as I walked into the room and that was all that was finished. Once we got home, we knocked some more. Pretty basic day where we 'talked to' (or got lectured by) a Muslim about not being blind minded. Sometimes I don't understand how people can have such a good perspective but not follow it.

Saturday was pretty good. We had Weekly Planning and then went knocking. We found an old guy named Finn Clausen. He let us in and we taught him about the Book of Mormon. I'm not totally sure how much he actually understood though. He then showed us about 80 newspaper ads. It was pretty funny.

Sunday was the day of miracles! it was basically just the best! First, Rosa came to church! The Fonnesbecks drove her up from Kolding. They luckily explained what the meeting would be like (Fast Sunday type). There were some great testimonies that I thought would relate to her. She said she loved the "sibling" feeling and how everyone was just happy. We asked a member, Marie Bornemann, to kind of be her friend that day so she had a couple people to be with. The Vejle Sisters then gave an awesome guest class lesson about the Holy Ghost! They also filled us in that Rosa loved Relief Society!! She said she wanted to get more involved with their activities and wanted to come back to church again!! It was awesome! We didn't get to talk with her a ton afterwards though. But she really liked it and talked about it with the Fonnesbecks the whole ride home! It was just great to hear that it was good for her. After church, Bent told all of us his conversion story. Shortened: He visited the US and met Mormons in Yellowstone, Phoenix, and Vancouver (Canada) and was taught during his trip. He was then baptized (the first baptism of that stake center) in Vancouver! Then he was surprised coming home to a small Vejle branch that met in a little apartment. It was an awesome story!

So for a spiritual thought, I want to take it from Sunday. Bent Bisgaard's story was completely based upon the Book of Mormon and the members. But he said that he wouldn't have read or taken time to consider it if he hadn't seen the example of those who live it. So just be careful. People know if you're a member. People can tell if you really are a disciple of Christ. If they only watch you, would that bring them closer to Him?

Congrats to everyone who now get to decide what college to go to! ;) But also congratulations for all the acceptance! I'd accept you too! :D Have a great week!
--
Ældste Bryant Jepsen



- Jumping on the top of Koldinghus
- Costumes!
- Here's Ældste Schaffer with the most stereotypical Danish apartment building wall
- Snow, Swings, Splits
- We made Homemade Pizza's one night. It was fun!



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